Multimedia from Friday practice

Randy Cunneyworth taleked about toughness.
“All players are tough,” the coach said after the Canadiens’ Friday practice. “Some are tougher than others.”
Cunneyworth said what the Canadiens are displaying is “a shared toughness.”
“I think we’re a tougher team. That’s not a bad thing.”

So Burke waits till they fly to Montreal (they didn’t go back to T.O. after Chicago game) to fire him, so that Ron could spend his contract extension/severance package at Chez Paree, see now that is how a classy organization does its Pearnings!

I want every game of the season to be a loss for us because it’s not every year that we’ll get the chance to turn things around by drafting the (potentially) next Malkin or Ovechkin. If the kids can play and have fun, like last night, but still lose, I’ll be OK with that.

If you think the cupboards are bare (the frequent call up of Paloosh’s flowing hair tend to prove you right), try to look past the Dogs. This year, Gallagher nearly made it. Bournival, Ellis, Kristo, Beaulieu and Tinordi all coming up next year. Leblanc as it is now might as well get a pad in the 514. I liked what I see from BabyBoom, Ryan ”the Tasmanian Devil” White. Avtsin, Naatinen, St-Denis and Dumont will all become more mature. So the prospect of getting a 3rd overall (1st if we win the lottery) almost make up for the trainwreck that was this season.

I want tomorrow to be a huge win, mind you. Playing spoilers to Toronto is always good.

Obviously, there were some blunders in the past, but overall I think Timmins’ track record is decent. I mean, except Patch and Price, none of our actual core comes from a 1st round. Except Eller but that was for St-Louis. Our de facto #1 center and our #1D were undrafted. Let’s get over 2003, the Rangers did even worst for that one, and LA wanted AK real bad.

This is a bad, very bad season, people. Let’s make it worth it: pummel the Leafs at every turn, let’s get the new Malikn, let the kids play, then play on home ice for the 2 first rounds of next year’s spring dance !
_________________________________
Open-mindedness is not a skull fracture

Your view of tanking for a top 3 pick is shared by a majority of posters here but I will provide a contrary arguement.
From your own paragraph 3, our best forward and our best D were undrafted so why so much emphasis on a top 3? If ” the next Malkin” were one of the top 3 I would have a different tune, I imagine but from a wide range of reports that just doesn’t seem to be the case. It is just too much of a crap-shoot in the draft to think that all is fixed because we drafted in the top 3. Alex Daigle anyone?
The core of this team is currently forging their own identity, learning to play for each other and hopefully win together. A team that leaves this season on a high note, stringing some wins together and feeling good about the future, is worth more in the future than even the 1st pick overall. CBJ has had nothing but high picks and still stink. Fla hasn’t made the playoffs in 12 years and are touch and go for this year.
Here’s another reason, Eric Cole. The best FA signing here perhaps ever and I include AK27. Are you going to go and tell this warrior of a player that we appreciate your effort, playing hurt and all, but we’d rather lose so we can pick a Russian kid who might be good someday after you retire? Cole’s response: ” trade me right f**kin’ now” and I wouldn’t blame him.
This is training camp. An attitude of winning games and playing for the name (crest) on the front and not the back has to start now. Losing out the season makes guys alright with losing and that’s never good. At worst the Habs pick 10th plus 3 (I think) 2nds, there are quality players coming to this team. I’d rather see them win and keep winning than mail it in to pick 7 spots higher.
But that’s just me.

I really hope that Cole experiences at least going deep in the playoffs with the Habs during his stay here. I bet that’s why he came over in the first place. From what he has shown this year, he was worth every penny that Gauthier gave him: he was practically carrying the team at times when almost all other lines had given up.

Nevertheless, I think we’ve been doing it that way for a long while. This time, we have an opportunity to add something significant, tangible. Montreal hasn’t had anyone that really moved fans, a real game breaker for several years. And this time, we have a shot at it, without even blowing up our core which include some kids south of 25 that are earning their stripes in this lost cause.

You love those warriors ? They deserve a real contender, not a middle of the pack mickey mouse team that fight to squeak in 8th and get floored by any team in 1st round.

The fact that our #1 C was undrafted doesn’t mean that a high draft pick is not necessary. That’s nonsensical. If anything, it’s only a testament to the talent of the scouts that urged the management to give him a shot. Now if that team was given a jewel like a high draft pick, imagine what they can do ? Yes Alex Daigle. Yes David Fisher. Yes Someone Whatever……

The fear of striking out shouldn’t stop you from playing the game. And that my friend, is a mindset that ANY warrior can understand.

If playoff was still in the picture, I’d say let’s do this. But now that we’re out, let’s make something out of this.

_________________________________
Open-mindedness is not a skull fracture

Last game of the regular season. The Brandon Penguins need to win to get home ice.

With the score 2-2, Matthew Oliver takes the pass through the defensive zone. It’s the end of along shift for the opposing team, Matthew skates up the middle though the neutral zone , two kids attempt to check him and bounce off. Matthew fakes left and blows by the thrid forward.

Oliver crosses the blue line fakes right goes between the two D and skates up the middle, backhand forehand scores the winning goal!

AS soon as I saw what was going on in our end, I stood up and without even really noticing I started play by play for the fans.

It was hilarious, and even though he scored the other fans were pretty excited too.

After the game one of the one of the ______ walked up to me and told me to get out to the double A tryouts next year.

I told him “no, my boy plays for fun, but if you can convince him then I’ll be a major sponsor”

Matthew is scared to death he’ll get a head injury like mine. He saw me go down in the hospital and code blue. Scared the crap out of him.

Anyways

Gotta beat those Leafs. The season may be over for the Habs, but they can afford to win this one game and then continue on with MR. Gauthier’s 10 year plan.

Go Wheaties Go

Go Habs Go

Carey Carey Carey

2012 Team Canada Goalie

They Call Me Shane
“They never asked to be Canadiens, they were Chosen.”
Shane Oliver
Twitter @Sholi2000http://www.Sholi2000.com
Custom Sports Figures

Watched Grigorenko play recently. Would not pick him if I had first choice in the draft. He’s a floater. Third game I’ve seen him play and he doesn’t like traffic. When the other team is small, and gives him room, he likes it. Good hands, though. Can skate well, but he outclasses players in the Q. When everyone can skate as fast as him, he may find things not-so-pleasant.

“Grigorenko is not as physical as you’d like, but considering his physical gifts he has an average physical game overall and I have no concerns with his work ethic. He plays a slow down, cerebral type of game which IMO can look like a lazy player. He doesnt go all out every shift but hes not lazy and as one Head Scout says, “Grigorenko at 80% is still the best player on the ice”. He’s actually a very effective defensive forward and can win board battles. There are no major intangible issues with him ala Filatov.”

I’m not a professional scout. God knows we should trust scouts blindly. I’m sure Trevor Timmons trusts his junior scouts too and he has rarely made a mistake drafting high… But you go watch him and see what you think. I watched Ribeiro too, with the Remparts and the Citadelles and he dominated every aspect of the game. Grigorenko doesn’t. Ribeiro showed more talent than Grigorenko, at least in the 10-12 games I saw Ribeiro in.

from Corey Pronmann who covers prospects for ESPN and Hockey Prospectus: “Grigorenko is not as physical as youd like, but considering his physical gifts he has an average physical game overall and..”
“I have no concerns with his work ethic. He plays a slow down, cerebral type of game which IMO can look like a lazy player”
“He doesnt go all out every shift but hes not lazy and as one Head Scout says, “Grigorenko at 80% is still the best player on the ice.”
“Hes actually a very effective defensive forward and can win board battles. There are no major intangible issues with him ala Filatov.”

I think a key part of Ottawa’s rebuild this year was that they kept some veterans around from their previous team like Phillips, Spezza and Alfredsson to guide the younger players this year.

That’s why having Gionta around on the ice next year will be so important because he, Moen and Pleks (assuming Gomez isn’t returning) are the only remaining vestiges of the team that made it to the conference finals with the Habs or have Cup experience (you could add Cole to the latter group). I single out Gionta especially because even though probably isn’t the most vocal guy, he leads by example and plays hard.

More troublesome is the lack of experience on the D. Hopefully Markov will be back because he would fill that role perfectly.

Good points. They need another veteran defenceman. Maybe Hamrlik would come back… but the real issue is upper management. The old italian maxim
‘A fish stinks from the head down’
applies to this season and the Canadiens.

Hamrlik is too old now but yes we need at least 1 more veteran D with size and skill (say a #3) like Hammer was for us. If Markov doesn’t show something by the end of this year then we’ll need another.

About the toughness thing and how apparently the team is losing more. There is no connection. The only difference is that now they are losing without their tails between their legs. It’s a better culture to bring young players into.

For the life of me I can’t understand how people think the Habs have been successful in recent years. Finishing 3rd over-all is meaningless when it is followed the year after by a 2nd half melt down. Making it to the ECF’s is meaningless if the two players that did most of the heavy lifting have been traded.

Some might disagree but IMO the Habs have been playing well beyond their talent level since Gainey decided to blow everything up. The cracks showed this season.

If the Habs are going to truly build a contender better to add talent to toughness than the other way around. We saw what bringing in BGL provided.

I think if a team plays at a certain level more often than not, then that is in fact their level. Playing 3 seasons ‘ beyond their talent ‘ and then 1 season at what you consider the actual level to be seems to me kind of backward thinking.
The Habs have been playing to their talent. Their biggest issue was Markov and other injuries. Lack of depth in the organization. The biggest disappointment was Cammi in my opinion. We thought we had a 40 goal scorer. But we really had a 30 goal scorer who lit it up in the playoffs one year. To be honest we have really lacked consistent scoring. If we had that things would have been different. We are starting to look like we solved that with MaxPac and Cole. We still need another 30 goal scorer and Gio healthy.
Fill our HUGE D holes and stop relying on a 22 year old kid to lead our D and we will see a lot less goal against.
Worst aspect of our game is PP. And that’s all about scoring.

Man oh man… what can Cunneyworth do except just ride it out? Winning last night was so meaningless and covers up that meltdown at the end. I’m not against Kaberle myself, but Campoli and Weber……. At least Subban Emelin Gorges Diaz are bright spots. So many problems with management and urgent team issues, don’t know where to begin. Really, just a huge SIGH about it all… At least we can laugh about it….somewhat.

IMO Kaberle produces enough offence that it’s worth having him on the team even at $4 1/4 million, but you need to compensate for his weak defensive play by pairing him up with a D-first guy who can cover for him. Kaberle with Josh Gorges is a good pair, but guys like Weber and Campoli just highlight Kaberle’s flaws.

When I saw him skate out to get the puck I thought he was , in his own way, mocking the league and refs because of the controversy of forward progress on the spinorama shootout move he’s been complaining about.

It’s funny how things go. I was one of those who thought the Habs would be better off playing a more aggressive style: enter RC and the two-man forecheck, and … bam. They sucked way worse.

Watching the Habs get pushed around, it was logical for many to think that having more toughness would allow them to play a better game. Instead, they’re playing tougher, but not better.

The basic problem is overall lack of talent, which is due to lack of depth, which is due in large part to injuries. Our first line is fine. After that, we have nothing. If Gionta were around to play with Pleks and Bourque, I think that would be a decent secondary unit that would produce more. And on D, not having Markov cripples everything. Markov, Emelin, Subban, Gorges, Kaberle, and Diaz would actually be a decent group.

The best part about having Markov from the start of this year is that we would not have Kaberle. Even as a shodaow of his former self, Markov in place of Kaberle is worth 10 pts in the standings. But coulda, woulda, shoulda, right? If your aunt had balls she’d be your uncle

About van Riemsdyk, hockey people always talk about him like he’s a budding superstar. I wonder why Pacioretty doesn’t get as much respect? Very comparable career stats. And Pacioretty is having a much better year.

Best forwards from that draft, in order: Kane, Gagner, Benn, Pacioretty, van Riemsdyk. Perron is runner-up.

Ugh, Benn went in the 5th round. With all that size and skill … how?? Pretty much went right from junior into the NHL too.

as an aside – you are missing the benefit toughness has on an entire team..you are missing the benefit not being the laughing stock of the league from a physical perspective has – you are missing then benefit confidence has on a hockey team….I don’t think anyone said Habs won last night because of those 2 players but steps in the right direction are being taken to make this team tougher and as a result more competitive in the NHL…

You may be a fan since 72′, however, I would take a guess and say you don’t have an idea what a winning team needs too win.
Maybe White, and Staubitz weren’t on the ice for those they scored, however, teams and other players on other teams notice things like a team toughening up, and change their approach when they face us, now and in the future. Let’s face it, the Habs have been pushed around… no, they have been pathetically pushed around the last few years.
Teams will prepare for us differently now. And, that my dear sir, that is a fact jack.
Notice Pleck’s give White a smack on the ass after his fight, that’s him saying, good job boy, keep it up. Now, Pleck’s, Gionta and do their work, which is the more finesse kinda stuff. But, they won’t be hacked, and pushed around so much as before when they were the NHL’s whipping boys.

Funny that Detroit can get FAR fewer major penalties every season and yet still sit near the top of the standings.

A couple of idiots throwing punches does little or nothing to deter teams from scrumming or hacking your skill/finesse players. After the incident with White last night, the Wild were running Subban. Weber had to fight. Bourque suffered a knee-on-knee hit. We lost two players to injuries (Palushaj and Gomez).

Both teams were playing awful, sloppy hockey because their lines were in complete disarray from the shenanigans during the first period. People were more interested in throwing huge hits than playing smart hockey…Subban could have gotten badly burned when he missed a big hit in the first period, while Emelin missed Kassian and could have hurt the team’s most valuable player on an open ice hit out near center ice that turned into an odd-man rush.

When you try to play tough, you are more often than not playing stupid. Montreal played awful last night, but escaped with a win because they were playing a similarly bad team.

Vancouver tried to play “tough” in the Stanley Cup finals and got shellacked in the final 5 games after staking themselves to a 2-0 series lead.

Toughness is overrated. Teams like the Bruins and Flyers play that style because it best suits their roster. Even there, both teams are successful more because they feature enviable depth and skill when compared to the average NHL team.

Toughness is not the sole formula to winning in the NHL, contrary to what neandrethals like Don Cherry would have me believe.

Vancouver lacked sandpaper and depth and that is why they lost in the cup finals not because they tried to play tough. Key injuries and suspensions exposed them. Not to mention that Loungo sucked the hind tit pretty hard.They have added some significant sandpaper and depth this year and will be better for it. They will beat the Bruins if they face them again.

Just an FYI Detroit has 14 fighting majors this season and Montreal has 17….not much of a difference there but there is in the standings…why SKILL Level it has nothing to do with toughness.
Detroit doesn’t play a soft game though, they do stick up for each other and they have some hard hitters on that team with some sandpaper.

The Rangers lead with 50 fighting majors and are kicking butt as a unit this year. They play as a solid unit. They do not play stupid cause they fight. NY is having a great year.

You can’t just use last nights game as a measuring stick for toughness or this season in general. Our Defense sucks and that is why we blew the lead last night and so many times this year.

The habs are trying to build a team that is tough to play against because currently they are not. Adding some toughness and willingness to stick up for each other would help in that department. They will be addressing some of their D problems in the off season.

I’m sure the players would like lots of things: bowls of smarties in the dressing room, hot asian massage therapists who walk barefoot on your back, etc … The question is do Staublitz and White make us win more games?

Couple of us around here have been preaching lack of toughness on the team and the impact it had/has on our record. Finally – we have a small amount of it and guess what – that’s all anyone is talking about. Took management most of last season and 3/4 of this to figure it out…pretty freaking sad if you ask me. if this team had a real 4th line and 1 tough D all year – my guess is our record would clearly show the benefit. Create an environment for skilled players to play in and tougher for opponents – what a novel concept. it was clear all season that our Habs were a joke to opponents – maybe not anymore.

This is what pisses me off about people who say “could you be a better GM”? Fact is that sure the fans vent a lot, some of the things they say are moronic – trade Price, yadda yadda. But at the same time, some things are so obvious half the people at least know they’re important before the GM seems to. Correction: before OUR GM seems to. And that my friends, is one sign of a truly horrible GM. It’s not the couple of good trades he makes. It’s the body of work, the overall strategy – or blindness to one – in the Goat’s case. He’s a total lame duck. Listen to other GMs they actually SAY things and most of them even make sense!

What astonishes me is when ‘fans’ seem to have a hindsight opinion on everything, constantly bash our GM. Whomever it is at the time, and then gives passes to other GMs that do something similar.
Kaberle. PG is the idiot, But Rutherford and Chiarelli are not.
Gomez. BG is an idiot Sather is not.
Then we forget all about all the bashing we did to players like Spacek, Gill, Latendresse, Pouliot, AK, Lapierre, Hamr, etc, etc. Then we go and bash the GM for getting rid of them.
I’ve seen so many people picking and choosing their argument and subject based on current events and of course when the team loses. I’ve seen the same old ‘should’ve kept halak’ and ‘Price is to blame’ comments as often as it is humanly possible to make them.
Its astonishing the level of negativity that is in here.
I’m left thinking as soon as someone is hired or signed they are immediately waiting to be bashed. Never gonna ever be good enough until this team, wins 5 Cups in a row.

The difference is that Chiarelli won the Stanley Cup with Kaberle in the lineup. Rutherford made the mistake of signing of signing Kaberle, admitted as much, than traded him to Montreal.

Sather did make a mistake of signing Gomez to that brutal contract. Then he managed to trade him to Montreal for a serviceable third liner and our top prospect.

The Canadiens mismanagement so far has left this team in last place in the eastern conference, with brutal long term contracts to average and terrible players. We are in the same position as the Maple Leafs a few years ago, except we still have our first round picks.

Toughness with skill is difficult to find.
It’s all well and dandy to appreciate Staubitz toughness and willingness to defend his team, but it would be better if he could pot in a couple goals and rack up some points too.

In my opinion, we need 2 more shut down dmen.
That’s obvious, but I think we should give them 1 or 2 years, because after a few years our young dmen will be able to come up and fill all of those roles, and we got a lot of good dmen coming up!
So just don’t sign the shut down dmen for 3 or 4 years.

And btw, love the toughness we showed last night.
RW if he was with the Habs earlier like in November he would of made a difference.
What a difference Brad Staubitz makes, he comes in and everyone is a little bit tougher and braver.
Hope next year if we don’t resign Staubitz maybe someone tougher but we need to have someone like him on the team.

Subban and Emilen played a great game yesterday. Man those 2 plus Beaulieu, Tinorty and Gorges in the coming years will make a scary D core.
Also DD and Pac had amazing games. I can’t believe how people want to trade Max pac, we finally have a young power forward that can score 30 or more goals, and sure let’s trade him away!

What do you guys think DD’s potential is? I think he could be a really good second line center.

If having guys like Staubitz and White around allow smaller players like DD to play like he did last night, hire a couple more over the summer. Loved the kind of ability he showed. Now, find Plekanec one (or two!) big, talented forwards that can grind a bit and he’ll get going too.

“I’m really happy to have been able to develop the defensive aspect of my game. I’m doing my best to not really worry about the offensive side of things at this point because I know eventually, that will come on its own. I’m 22 years old and my focus right now is to build a solid foundation,” explained Subban, who has accumulated 26 points in the current campaign to date. “Jacques [Martin] always told me to worry about building foundations right now that will last me for the rest of my career. I obviously don’t want to be just a flash in the pan, and I think I’ve added elements to my game that are going to help me six or seven years down the line.”

He actually got 17 minutes if you are refering to White. It’s more bizarre that you can whack a guy with a stick and get two minutes while the guy that punches you back with his fist for it gets 17 minutes.

Why you ask? If he blows out his knee this year or the Championships we know we need to replace him next year and will already know by July 1. If he doest blow his knee out and he impresses then there shouldnt be any questions on if Markov starts next year.

Two years ago Markov missed the first half of the season, returned in time for the Olympics, played about 40 games and then went back out for the rest of the playoffs. The following year he played only 7 games, now he’s been out for the entire season and there’s talk of him returning after the season to play in the Worlds? This contract needs to be voided (because he was injured prior to signing the current contract) and they need to cut ties with Markov. He only seems to want to play for Russia anymore, so let him go do so and use that money on somebody who will actually show up and play… I hear Weber’s due to make about that same amount of cash and Nashville’s hard pressed with the cap as it is for example….

A man and his wife go to their honeymoon hotel for their 25th anniversary. As the couple reflected on that magical evening 25 years ago, the wife asked the husband, “When you first saw my naked body in front of you, what was going through your mind?”

The husband replied, “All I wanted to do was to fuck your brains out, and suck your tits dry.”

I don’t know anything about his injury, but he’s sat out for so long, if he’s good enough to play at the World’s, he’s good enough to play for the Habs.

We need this guy next year. I can not take another losing season and as it stands the Canadiens could have a good player who can score who will need someone like Markov setting him up on the PP, and breaking out of our own end.

OT

PK will be better than ever next year. He knows his mistakes, and he may even lead the team in defensive points. Please oh please let that be true.

Back to work, nothing to see here!

They Call Me Shane
“They never asked to be Canadiens, they were Chosen.”
Shane Oliver
Twitter @Sholi2000http://www.Sholi2000.com
Custom Sports Figures

With Suter unlikely, and Stuart probably heading back out west for family reasons, I wouldn’t touch any of those guys, maybe Sarich on a 1 year deal. All those guys are horrible, MTL needs to sign one of Jackman, Allen, or Garrison. Those 3 are LD that can play with Subban.

Given how well he partners Erik Karlsson, I really can’t see Ottawa letting Kuba go.

I can’t see Stuart wanting to leave Detroit.

I don’t have any feelings one way or the other about Sarich.

Carle would like to stay in Philadelphia, and they would like to keep him. The sticking point is that his agent wants something similar to the deal that Wisniewski got from Columbus.

Wideman is probably looking at a similar type of payout, while Suter is probably looking at $6-8 million per season.

Anybody Montreal signs on defence has to be with the knowledge that they are only here for 2-3 years at most because we’ve got a lot of young kids that need to have jobs available to them over the next 2 or 3 seasons.

With Subban, Gorges, Emelin and (most likely) Kaberle, the Habs have 4 defence spots locked up for next season. If Markov comes back, that makes 5.

I think the emphasis on defencemen is overstated. Montreal is sitting 13th in the NHL in goals against. If they had anything approaching a consistent offence that put pressure on the other team, than they could get by with what they have.

The Habs defence in 1993 was a mishmash of youngsters as well. Eric Desjardins (23), Patrice Brisebois (21), Lyle Odelein (24) and J.J. Daigneault (26) played in every playoff game. Kevin Haller (21) played in all but 3, while a committee of Rob Ramage (33), Mathieu Schneider (23), Sean Hill (22) and Donald Dufresne (23) filled in for less than half the games. While many of those guys would go on to long careers, they were mostly finding their legs and prone to mistakes that season. Fortunately, they had a deep group of forwards keeping pressure on the opposition and Patrick Roy covering up their mistakes.

I believe Stuart may leave Detroit as his family lives in San Jose, and he’s tired of the distance. From mlive.com:

“The Detroit Red Wings haven’t started contract talks with Brad Stuart because the defenseman hasn’t decided where his future lies — in Detroit or closer to his home on the West Coast.

If it were strictly a hockey-related decision, it would be easy, Detroit would be Stuart’s first choice. But his wife and kids, two young sons and a stepdaughter in high school, live in San Jose, and that is where they must stay.”

There is a difference between Training for a season and rehabbing an injury. If the guy doesn’t get in a few games this season, he spends all summer in Rehab mode, hoping his knee is going to be okay.

@24Cups, I think you make brilliant posts here, but he has had almost 15-16months since the reconstructive surgery and rehab. That is plenty of time for that operation to regain the strength to play, if he can’t play now, then he can’t play in 6 months, cuz that means something is still structurally wrong.

I’m concerned as well, probably more from a lack of solid information. He should have been healed by now but if he had a setback, there is really no telling, aside from speaking directly with his Dr., how long the recovery period could last now.

I’m just generally frustrated by losing a player of this caliber and having to eat the $$ against the cap.

So for me it comes down to this. Yes, we have $7.5M wrapped up or wasted in Gomez. Yes, we have $5.75M tied up in Markov, and yes we have another $4M+ tied up in useless Kaberle. We all see it, mgmt sees it, adn we are all aware of how much better this team would be if those $$s were spent wisely. What the hell are we going to finally do about it this summer?????

@Bripro, sorry to hear how your weekend plans worked, too bad we could have hit the local sports bar to watch Montreal Toronto, would have been great atmosphere, we could have invited Chuck to join us, would have been great.

In the meantime, happy Painting! Oh I can’t believe I just said that to a buddy.

I have been too – to a fault. And I am at your point now. He needs to go to Hamilton if they can’t move him, and I don’t care how morrally wrong it seems. It’s the rules and he did this, nobody else. He is a very rich gentleman and has done very little in this contract period to earn it.

My favorite was people saying we’re cursed with Gomez and his contract “longterm” (2 years) and then in the same breath clamored for Lecavalier. Because apparently 10 years at 7.7 million is a steal for a 60 point center on the wrong side of 30.

uhhhh, no. First off, you’re looking at Grigorenko Vs. a gambler (a 20th pick). Huberdeau has not shown he’s going to be a dominant player yet although he could be, and we’d be giving up early seconds which can develop into decent nhl players (Subban).

True, so really we’d be trading (as it stands now) a 3rd, a 33rd, and somewhere betweeen (30-60) for a 3rd and a 20th. I don’t know about you but that doesn’t seem worth it. But Bob McKenzie did say Yakupov and Grigorenko are on a whole different level than the rest of the draft and he’s in my mind the best analyst.

In such a trade, you would be getting Huberdeau (whose offensive performance as a 17 year old last year was as good as Grigorenko’s has been this season) for the shot at Grigorenko.

The two second round picks would be in exchange for this year’s 20th pick, and that is a trade that most GM’s would take. Trading two seconds to get into the first round is exactly what Bryan Murray did last season for the Senators, where he picked Matt Puempel.

I’m sure Huberdeau will be a good player, but he’s still in juniors on a stacked team. I don’t see why the Habs would give up a potential top 3 pick + 2 2nd rounders (not to be underestimated by any means) for what amounts to pretty much the same type of player being drafted in the upcoming draft seeing as he hasn’t played an NHL or AHL game yet.

Just read this on allhabs.
Beaulieu’s teammate Jonathan Huberdeau racked up 21 points in 10 games for February’s first-star honours. Huberdeau, selected third overall in last year’s NHL Entry Draft by the Florida Panthers, recorded four game-winning goals out of his 11 across that span, as well as a +16 rating. He only needs one more point to reach the 200-point plateau in his QMJHL career.

1. He has been treated shabbily by the organization recently. He apparently wanted to return as an assistant and was told thanks but no thanks. Presumably his resume lacks the essential condition these days: having been a member of the Ottawa Senators organization.

2. This oft-repeated idea that he can’t handle the stress of coaching. He coached the Devils to back to back Stanley Cup finals. Yes when he resigned after his second stint he cited health and stress reasons. Doesn’t mean those issues are still there.

3. You have to wonder whether there are cliques among ex-Habs. Why Gainey would snub Lemaire and Robinson in order to pick a guy like Jacques Martin is hard to fathom. Remember we bought out Martin from Florida (can you imagine someone paying you to take the coach/GM who never got you into the playoffs off your hands?) because he was a veteran and had a defensive system that would help Price. Hmm… veteran coach, defensively minded? Anyone come to mind? First name Jacques?

1. I agree with you…Robinson’s treatment has been odd. That being said, the way his agent portrayed the approach (going through Pierre Boivin) was also odd.

2. I agree that he might be able to. But given that knowledge, I think the Devils would have been happy to offer the head coaching position to Robinson over Peter DeBoer. That suggests to me that Robinson isn’t really all that interested in being a head coach at this point in his career. Like you say, it might have nothing to do with stress or pressure and just that he really doesn’t have much left to prove and wants to enjoy life on his own terms.

3. I don’t think there is any doubt that cliques amongst ex-Habs exist. Gainey and Carbonneau were clearly part of one cabal, although you have to wonder how strong their ties after Carbo got fired.

I mentioned it below, but I think that as much as we talk about the class of the Canadiens’ organization, they also have a pretty vindictive streak from management. Jacques Plante left the Habs and subsequently had to wait until 1995, 9 years after his death, to have his jersey retired. Doug Harvey, the best defenceman in the history of the team and frequently cited as one of the 10-15 greatest players in the history of the NHL, wouldn’t see his jersey retired until 1985. Like Plante, he did not finish his career in Montreal.

I’m probably grasping at straws, but there were certainly some players who seemed to garner more respect from the franchise than others.

It seems like the ones who were free about communicating what they thought were given the heave-ho. On the other hand, these players were traded well after their peak seasons, so the Habs got what they could for them.

“Presumably his resume lacks the essential condition these days: having been a member of the Ottawa Senators organization.”

Not sure he lacks any credentials, but don’t think he was ever a part of the Ottowa Senators organization?:
Robinson was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1995 and is currently the assistant coach for the New Jersey Devils. He has also served as head coach for the Devils on two separate occasions, as well as for the Los Angeles Kings.

HabFan was being a bit sarcastic…the Habs have been obsessed with poaching the Senators administration for the past few years now. Pierre Gauthier, Jacques Martin, Trevor Timmins, and Frank Jay (senior amateur scout) were all formerly employed by the Senators..

JM got Ottawa into the 2007 Stanley Cup finals against Anaheim. This was after Chara walked away as an UFA for nothing. Chara had two 16 goal, and two 10 goal seasons for Ottawa in the 5+ seasons he played there.

So the Habs have a lot of promising D men coming up through the ranks, which is great news. We have Price in nets, and Markov, Subban and Gorges in front of him (though Markov may not be around by the time Tinordi and Beaulieu make the team). Hopefully, by picking high in the draft this year, they get a good winger/center that will be on the team for years to come.

What to do for next year concerning the D? This is neglecting the fact that the Habs hardly have any top 6 NHL forwards anymore, but the D has been a consistent problem all year. The Habs need one or two more strong physical D men. Having Campoli, Kaberle, Weber and Diaz has been a major source of trouble. It’s not that each in his own right is bad, but having them three of them out there each game is bad news. Campoli most likely will not be re-signed. Kaberle will in almost all certainty be here next season. Weber as well. Ideally, Diaz would go down to Hamilton and improve there for a while and could be called up when necessary. Weber can be used as a depth 7th defensemen or rotated in and out (it’s really too bad management gave him a one-way contract this year).

there are 2 huge reasons why the habs have given up 3rd period leads ALL FREAKIN SEASON.

neither reason has to do with goaltending – although price was much hotter last season than he is this season.

reason #1: our d-men are too soft

when the opposition forechecks and battles in front of the net, they never are made to pay the price – so they keep coming at us, relentless, and by the 3rd period, our soft d-men are worn down,
but the opposition are stronger and as effective as they were since the outset.

reason #2: our 3rd and 4th line needs to be taking it to the other team and especially the other team’s defence.

just as our d-men get worn down, we need to wear down the opposition – with forechecking and battling for pucks in the corners and in front of the net.

In football, its called winning the battles in the “trenches”.

in football, most games are decided by whose “line play”, offensive and defensive line, can win the battle along the line of scrimmage,

in the 3rd period, we need to start winning the battles of the trenches,

I’d say Subban, Gorges and Emelin are definitely not soft. The other half definitely is. But again, nothing wrong with pairing Diaz with a veteran physical guy. If we had another guy who could break up plays and be as positionally sound as Gorges that would be a great help to this team.

And I’m not sure Kaberle and Campoli get worn down so much as they simply cannot win battles in front of the net or in the corners at all. They also can’t position themselves defensively in front of Price instead just standing in the way, and being unable to clear a rolling/bouncing puck.

I think Diaz has shown more than Weber, especially considering the fact that this is Diaz’ first year in the NHL. Weber IMO is the one that should be moved. What the Habs lack are solid, robust fourth and fifth D’men. With that, Diaz would serve well as a sixth.

I remember one report from practice by Boone that there was only a handful of faithful in attendance instead of a usual hoard. Or maybe Boone was just drunk and went to a different rink and thought it was Brossard. YOu never know.

I’d like to see Markov-Emelin as well, but the Kaberle and Diaz pairing would be disastrous.

I’m not sure how Gorges would do with Kaberle. Gorges is good at positioning himself and all those things on his side. But if the puck ends up being passed to Kaberle, where does it go? Back to the opposition? And if they are the second pairing, that’s still pretty stiff competition they’ll be facing.

We can always go back to the current DD line but I´d like to see what he could do on the third line and what Eller could do on the second with better wingers. Pleks is still our number 1 center, no matter what RC does with him. Btw: Pacioretty plays LW, Cole RW. I don´t know why some here don´t seem to know that…

It’s not curiosity, I just feel the team needs to know how Markov performs on the ice, in a game setting, against another team. They need to know if he can be the #1D, man the PP and play PK as well as he did before.
It’s information they need to have so they adjust the roster in accordance to his play.

shiram – I can see all of that but I’m not spending another cent on adjusting the roster if Markov can’t play. No trades, no giving up picks, no Kaberle hail marys. For me it’s simple, play Kaberle, take your lumps, and wait for Beaulieu to arrive in 2014.

BTW, someone mentioned we wouldn’t take this appraoch if Markov was a Canadian. I don’t see it that way. If this was Subban, I would say sit him down until training camp.

I’m probably in the small minority here on this issue but that’s how I see it.

24 Cups, there comes a time when rehab progresses to the point where you’re fully able and you return to normal duties. So as long as Andrei is fully 100% ready to return, as long as he’s not being rushed to meet an artificial deadline, as long as he performs at full effort during workouts and feels no discomfort, looseness, pain, then he’s ready, and six more months won’t be any more benefit. Some physiotherapists would argue that you will hinder progress and rehab if when he’s at that point you hold him out longer, just to be ultra cautious.

I also have an ulterior motive for Markov not playing during the last dozen games of the season. I’m petrified that the team might go on a winning streak and slip out of the lottery race. I know that’s a glass half empty approach, but it’s where I’m at right now after this disasterous season.

We need to see if he can play at this level again. We can not wait around all off season wondering if his knee is going to hold up next year. What if he gets injured 5 games into the season (next year)? We’ll be back to square 1 and have to make adjustments “on the fly”.

If he plays this year and gets re-injured he’ll be put on LTIR and we’ll get the cap space to make adjustments in the off-season. If he doesn’t get injured then all the better, at least we’ll know where he stands and can relax knowing he’ll be coming back at 100% next year.

Bottom line in my opinion is that the knee has to be tested before next season.

Lets not get carried away about Kaberle just because he had two assists on the PP and one of them was secondary to the play. His worth is quite low not only to our team but in the trade spectrum. This was made clear by the calue that Carolina received in return.

Brian Robinson, Larry’s brother, passed away from cancer in 2004. Robinson was hired as the head coach of the Devils for the second time in summer 2005.

Not saying that the death of his brother wasn’t an issue, just that the timing isn’t quite what you stated.

I wonder if there still isn’t some residual bitterness over Robinson’s departure from Montreal, hence the “classless” failure to return his agent’s calls on the third occasion when they contacted the team. Things have not always been smooth between he and the team since 1989.

Robinson was publicly reprimanded by Jean Beliveau over reports that he had demanded of Serge Savard that his number be retired upon the completion of his career. In his autobiography, Robinson claimed that he was reminding Savard of a much-earlier promise and that the issue was taken out of context. Regardless, he suffered some PR damage over that time period.

And Holy Smokes! Reading and learning from your earlier post that Larry really wants to reconnect with the team and the apparent cold shoulder response burns my butt. 1989 is a long time ago. Thinking too about the disconnect the team has with Jacques Lemaire leads me to believe that the business side doesn’t genuinely believe the words or sentiment of “passing the torch,” and that you are “always one of us.”

“If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not rest, in Flanders Field.”

LafleurGuy: If there is some grudge at play, I agree that it is time to finally bury the hatchet. The jersey retirement in 2005 was a big step in thawing the ice between the two sides. Hopefully, the team can find room under the tent for one of its greatest living players. A team ambassador/special development coach would not be remiss…Robinson has been good with young players in the past, and it would be great having somebody on the team working with the young kids we’re about to graduate to Hamilton over the next 2-3 seasons.

I’m a firm believer that the next head coach should be free to choose their own assistant coaches. If they want Robinson and he agrees, then so be it. I did find it a little odd that Robinson’s agent was contacting Pierre Boivin, as opposed to the GM (Gainey) or head coach (Carbonneau), while looking for an assistant coach position in 2008-09…Gainey and Carbonneau were former teammates of Robinson’s. The way that the request came in was a little surprising to me, but I’m not at all a hockey insider so perhaps this is how things often happen in the NHL.

So Gerry (HB), we had a trip to Burlington scheduled for his weekend.
My wife, my son and grandson. She’s making all these plans…
I thought I’d give you a call and have a coffee or drink together.
Then she looked at me and said:
“Well, I figured you’d paint the hallway since there’ll be no one home for three days…..”
Do you hear that high-pitched whistle, followed by a KABOOM?
No, it’s not the Habs tanking (yet).
Just the reality that I can’t even enjoy a weekend to myself.

Looks like 3rd year in a row we will finish in the bottom 3rd in league scoring..i am not sure we have enough nhl talent,prospect talent and potential draft talent to improve by that much next year without adding some nhl talent thru free agency or trades…

Can we expect markov to do that next year?..we cannot keep staying in the twenties position in scoring..the last 3 years i been seeing posts either before the season that we will do better the coming year or during the season that next year will be better and basically or goals for in relation to the rest of the league has not changed.

Habs have scored 3 less goals than last year. The difference in the standings is because of goals allowed.
Surprisingly, there are only 5 teams that average a little over 3 goals per game, with 3 more hovering close to 3. 7 of those teams are in the top 10 of the league.

So…..Larry Robinson must be our new coach this summer, no? His contract is up @ the end of the year, he speaks French , legend in Mtl, great for the young d-corp coming up, his agent said he wanted the job, is this all adding up? My guess he’ll be sitting at the draft table with PG.

He won the Stanley Cup as head coach. After the death of his brother he took some time off. After a period of time he returned to the organization, eventually as assistant coach and adviser to Lamorello. He chased Gainey for eighteen months to work as d coach with le Canadien and Gainey would not even return his calls. It’s time for Larry to come home. He can wave goodbye to the rotting corpse of the Gainey regime.

As well as put to bed myths and misinformation about him “not handling” anything. He can handle it. He’s Larry Robinson, Hall of Famer.

I may have missed a newer development, but I have not seen anywhere that Larry Robinson’s agent indicated he was interested in a head coaching job, in Montreal or otherwise.

Robinson, through his agent, did express interest in assistant coaching positions with Guy Carbonneau and twice with Jacques Martin. Failing that, he expressed interest in a team ambassador position similar to those held by Lafleur, Beliveau, H. Richard, Cournoyer and Houle.

Robinson quit his head coaching gig with the New Jersey Devils due to stress-related health concerns in 2005 and hasn’t returned to a head coaching position since. Perhaps he feels he has a handle on stress now, but I have a feeling he would not be willing to take the head coaching spot in Montreal due to the intense pressure. At this point in his life and career, he quite simply does not need that kind of pressure.

Shiram, this editon of the Habs has practiced way less than any other Habs team before it. If anything, this country club needs way more practices. BTW- your avatar has made me gain weight. Yes, it is all your fault.

So I’m gonna say something very unpopular. I don’t dislike Kaberle on our team. I offer a few explanations. First, he is an offensive defenseman. He is not a shut down D. PK has 65 giveaways and Kaberle has 31. He is a -7 for us which isn’t great, but he usually plays with Campoli. Put him with Gorges and we see a different story. I’m not saying he is excellent, but consider this.
With Kaberle we have 22 PP goals. Without we have 13. Our PP is at 17% with him compared to 11% without. With that same percentage in the games Kaberle didn’t play with us we would have 176 goals for. Good for 6th in the East. Our Goal differential would be -5 good for 7th in the east. We wouldn’t be in any great spot. But my point is that if used correctly Kaberle can be a very good addition. Yes he is a bit expensive for what he brings, but we have him. And if I remember correctly it was not that long ago everyone wanted us to pick him up from Toronto.
Our problem this season is in fact soft D. However let me ask you this. Who picks up Kaberle expecting him to help bring in strong, solid and shut down D? No you expect him to bring in offensive numbers. Well he put our PP into the middle from the basement. (for the time he has been here). He leads our D in points and is on pace for a 46 points season with us.
Basically what I’m saying is add Markov and another capable shut down D and we will see a lot change.
He doesn’t play on the PK, and we still are great at that. I think its simply a matter of using him better.
What would you think of him if he ends this season with 38 points and minus 8? How would we rate those stats as one of our D players?

Exactly. I feel like despite the overblown salaries we have given a few guys a bad rap cause they are expected to play a way they shouldn’t be. All of a sudden we LOVE Spacek in here but I can remember when everyone wanted him gone cause he was too old, slow, soft blah blah blah. But he was playing minutes he shouldn’t have been. And to be honest him and Hamr played great together.

Let me be clear. I don’t love Spacek, not all of a sudden, not last season, not since he was signed, not before he was signed. And I strongly dislike Tomas Kaberle for being emotionless and not playing with effort. I never liked him, even in his ‘good’ years with Toronto, our forwards used him as a turnstile back then too. So no matter how many points he brings, he costs us twice as many, and he costs us in cap hit too. We didn’t lose much in the trade, but we ended up with a bigger mess.

Stev.R: That’s always been the issue with Kaberle. His shot is surprisingly good (especially when you factor in that he uses a tiny hockey stick!), but he just refuses to shoot too often.

The weird thing was that he always seemed to shoot against Montreal throughout his career, as evidenced by the fact that he scored 15 goals in 67 career games against the Habs, a much higher scoring rate than against the rest of the league (71 goals in 900 games).

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and it should be respected. For me though, Kabby is too soft for me and makes a lot of mistakes in his own end and is not worth 4.5 mill against the cap. If he was making 2 mill a season or even 3 I wouldn’t mind but he makes way too much cash.

I would agree he is being used incorrectly and the same goes for PK. No 2nd year D man should be logging 30 minutes a game. PG made some big blunders on our back end this season and it cost us a lot of games

Agreed to some extent. But a consistent 40+ point D in this league goes for a lot.
You are dead right about PK, but its excellent experience in a dead year.
Biggest mistake in my mind was not re signing Hamr. But we had planned on Markov playing.
We still need a big scorer. Someone who can get 35-40. Someone who can complete a 2nd line. Once we got our top 3 lines and a more solid D we will see a huge difference.
And we hope to draft a GEM this year.

I am going to agree and disagree at the same time…I do not mind Kaberle adn I fully aprreciate the things he brings and I understand the things he does not bring.
I think the issue is our D as a whole, we have too many offensive guys and no grit and Kaberle being the most expensive of those and a past Leaf /Bruin makes him the lightning rod.
As a point man he is not unlike Markov on the pp…he has always made whoever plays on the right with him better BUT we do not have a one timer there…so that is half of his ability taken from him…he had the ability to make the cross seam pass and put the puck on the right point mans stick right in the wheelhouse. As its stands he has to switch with Subban at the top and without a legit shotting threat from the other side as well (and/or a right handed threat down low) it becomes too predictable.
If we had Streit or even Souray bombing away from back there it would be a different story. Having no right handed one time threat down low hurts too and allows the pk and goalie to cheat.
Kaberle is still better than any other option the Habs have right now. I do not think his hit against the cap is that bad personally…I think it is fair for what he brings…..I just question how it works with the Habs now that I have seen it and with what our d consists of. Perhaps Markov can be the one timer and we can have two pp geniuses back there….but Markov would have to be the shooter and play the right.

Good fun on the previous thread. What a difference winning makes. Hope it’s not another two weeks for high spirits. From the Grasping-At-Straws files, good to hear Travis Moen will be joining “Captain” Gorges, and “I Have A Five Hole?” Price at autographing. Need him next year.

I have no doubt, about Plek coming back to form next year with Gionta back. But IMO next year we need Eller to step up like DD did this year. We don’t have a legit number 1, so we need all 3 guys to do it, if Eller can step up next year and give us a 15-20 goal/40-45 points season, he’ll be more than fine with Plek-DD-Eller down the middle.

Your right, I think Bourque was brought in to replace AK, plays 3rd line and can step up incase of injuries, we have to holes two on the wing to fill in. A LW with Plek and Gio, and possible another RW with Eller and Bourque. Hopeful a UFA or our top pick can fix that.

I think Bourque will be back in form next year for around 27 goals. he has been tossed around in lines like it is going out of style (similar to AK). I don’t dislike him like some. I think he will be a nice asset to the team

I just think that with the centers we have it’s important to have great wingers to make the lines overall better. I don’t mean to diss Bourque, but he has not shown the consistency to play top minutes.
He’ll be great on a third line.

I hope he plays in the Worlds also. Nothing bad can happen, he plays, gets in shape mentally for next year, he gets hurt, we know he’ll be on the IR or he’ll retire (insurance money), and we can spend that cap space elsewhere.

Cole needs to practice his Emelin avoidance skills.
All centers need to practice their faceoffs.
Pleks wingers need practice being top 6 wingers.
White needs to practice his acting, I could see him do some head and shoulders commercials.

I think you are DD’s biggest fan! He is playing great, he Cole and Patch would be a great second line on a contender. I like how calm he is under pressure, very accurate passing and concise decision making.

What a disaster. They gave picks to a team in their own division (and the Habs division) worthy of a rebuild effort… and the Bruins won the Cup without their help. They won the Cup and still had a top 10 pick in the same year.

And trading them Rask for Raycroft. So they gave Boston a future goalie too. Good job, Burke.

Wow, Koivu is VERY under-rated. He led the Olympic Games in scoring while bringing Finland to the Gold medal game in 2006 also led the World Championships in scoring in 1999 while leading Finland to the Gold Medal game. He is one of few NHL players that increase their point production in the playoffs. Saku was a career point per game player while with the Habs.

I will end by saying he captained a team that was poorly put together.

Now here we all were, having a nice conversation on a Friday night, I’m watching the hockey game with one eye and playing Sugar’s “Copper Blue” pretty much full volume, things are good, and you go and get all aggro and provocative and demean the career of a fine Canadien who persevered valiantly through the desert of the Réjean Houle years.

dtoight, why so angry? Try a warm bath, some eucalyptus oil, a scented candle, perhaps the loving touch of another human being.

Personally, I don’t really mind the Leafs anymore, now that they don’t have Darcy Tucker and Tie Domi and Wade Belak and all the other no account goons and pluggers on their team. Purely in terms of watching hockey, they’re a good team, they skate hard, they just need more bodies and goaltending.

What I do enjoy is watching the Toronto Hype Machine trip all over itself to inflate their potential at the start of the season, and then switch into witch-hunt mode when the puck drops.

Grabovski has played very well for them. The issue Burke faces is that he may need to overpay or give much term in the contract to keep him. He has been a good teammate his time in Toronto. I think he matured a great deal after leaving Montreal.

Hmm, I wouldn’t consider not winning since 1993 as bad as not winning since 1967. There’s almost 3 decades of difference there. In more recent terms, the Leafs haven’t even made the playoffs post-lockout. Now, you could dismiss making the playoffs saying that it means nothing at all unless you win the Cup, but that would be extremely harsh and a bit arrogant, I think.